Book Review Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning. José Antonio Bowen . San Francisco : Jossey-Bass , 2012 . ISBN-13: 978-1-118-11035-5 . 352 pages, $36.00 US .

We are delighted to review the book Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning. This book introduced us to many concepts in relation to the utilization of technology to enhance student learning. Although the book was written for college teachers and administrators with undergraduate education in mind, the majority of concepts are described in a manner that can easily be applied to health professions instruction (classroom and clinical). The book is divided into three sections. Part 1, “The New Digital Landscape,” starts slowly with a chapter on the global competition faced by universities recruiting undergraduate students; this is really more applicable for college administrators. However, it picks up quickly with two outstanding chapters on social media, the virtual classroom and customizing learning for the 21st century. In Chapter 2, the discussion of forms of e-communication is a primer for those of us who do not use social media (eg, Twitter, blogs, texting, Facebook, etc.) on a daily basis. One reviewer (AS) is a clinician and found this chapter to be one of the most compelling and relevant to her work as a clinical instructor. The other reviewer (JN) is a professional educator and veteran classroom instructor. She found Chapter 3, which discusses games and customization of learning, equally compelling, with its review of key learning principles and discussion of data demonstrating the educational value of video gaming. Another highlight is Dr. Bowen's description of the gaming-related skill sets that millennial learners (lifelong gamers) bring to education, such as systems thinking, sequential problem solving, lateral thinking, distributed knowledge, and cross-functional teams (page 69). It is our challenge to take advantage of these gifts. The book provides teachers with tools to do so. In Part 2, “Designing 21st Century Courses,” there are five chapters, each highlighting a different element of utilization of technology. Chapter 4 explores how to design courses to be more like video games by applying the motivational principles of “high expectations with low stakes.” Chapter 5 focuses on technology for information delivery and first exposure to content in order to make “face time” more about application and integration and less about acquisition of facts. For example, e-mail and podcasts can be used for guiding study or providing information prior to meeting with the faculty member. This allows the instructor to use time together in other ways. All instructors, clinical or classroom, can take full advantage of the information provided in Chapter 6, which is titled “Technology for Engagement.” This chapter raises awareness with statements such as, “Knowledge in the Internet age is plentiful, but is useful only if we can digest and evaluate simultaneously.” Advice is provided on how to engage students in gaining these crucial skills. Clinical teachers need to remember that decrying the inaccuracy of information from the Web is no longer enough; we must provide the skills for learners to utilize the Web, their primary lifelong source of information. Chapter 7 focuses on technology usage for assessment of learners. What was most interesting was the idea that you should share grading rubrics with the learners as part of the instruction to guide learning as well as guide assessment (page 163). When learners know the standards, they are more likely to meet them, by simply making the implicit more explicit. The final chapter in this section challenges faculty members to make classrooms more interactive and learner centered and reminds readers that the best learning is participatory and that students can learn from each other. This is something that chiropractic education has always taken advantage of for skill instruction but perhaps could better utilize in building the cognitive base. Part 3, “Strategies for Universities of the Future,” includes three chapters. Chapter 9 describes the changing landscape from locally focused education toward global availability of much of the cognitive base. Chapter 10 exhorts educational administrators to provide the support needed for faculty to move education into the Internet age. Chapter 11 explores the campus of the future. These materials should be of most interest to administrators and educational leaders, since the challenges faced by undergraduate education today could be faced very soon by health professions education. Dr. Bowen has developed a website, http://www.teachingnaked.com. At the site you can explore the “basics” and then click on the tab labeled “borrow,” where you can locate resources to assist you in applying some of the principles from the book. This is a useful supplement to the book. In health professions today there is talk of “flipping” the classroom, moving the lectures out and moving interaction and problem solving in. This book can provide some innovative tools. If you are open to change, the book can also alter your perspective as it has ours as we now think about technology more as an imperative than a supplement. We are already thinking about ways to alter teaching to be more compatible with the skills and preferences of this generation. If you choose to read this book, we believe it will stimulate you to examine your teaching and perhaps to innovate. In today's “age of the Internet” you could have the “book” in your hands in less than 10 minutes. You too could be “teaching naked.”